Information About Role-Based Access Control

After reading this chapter, you should have a basic understanding of how the ACE provides security administration by using role-based access control (RBAC) and how to configure a server maintenance user with permission to access a subset of your network.

One of the most challenging problems in managing large networks is the complexity of security administration. The ACE allows you to determine the commandsand resources available to each user through RBAC by associating users with domains and roles.

A domain is a collection of physical and virtual network resources such as real servers and virtual servers.

User roles determine user privileges, such as the commands that the user can enter and the actions the user can perform in a particular context. The ACE provides a number of predefined roles; context administrators can create new roles.

The ACE provides the following predefined roles, which you cannot delete or modify:

•Admin—If created in the Admin context, has complete access to, and control over, all contexts, domains, roles, users, resources, and objects in the entire ACE. If created in a user context, gives a user complete access to and control over all policies, roles, domains, server farms, real servers, and other objects in that context.

•Network Admin—Has complete access to and control over the following features:

–Interfaces

–Routing

–Connection parameters

–Network Address Translation (NAT)

–VIPs

–Copy configurations

–changeto command

•Network-Monitor—Has access to all show commands and to the changeto command. If you do not explicitly assign a role to a user with the username command, this is the default role.

•Security-Admin—Has complete access to and control over the following security-related features within a context:

–ACLs

–Application inspection

–Connection parameters

–Interfaces

–Authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA)

–NAT

–Copy configurations

–changeto command

•Server-Appln-Maintenance—Has complete access to and control over the following features:

–Real servers

–Server farms

–Load balancing

–Copy configurations

–changeto command

•Server-Maintenance—Can perform real server maintenance, monitoring, and debugging for the following features:

–Real servers—Modify permission

–Server farms—Debug permission

–VIPs—Debug permission

–Probes—Debug permission

–Load balancing—Debug permission

–changeto command—Create permission

•SLB-Admin—Has complete access to and control over the following ACE features within a context:

–Real servers

–Server farms

–VIPs

–Probes

–Load balancing (Layer 3/4 and Layer 7)

–NAT

–Interfaces

–Copy configurations

–changeto command

•SSL-Admin—Can administer all SSL features:

–SSL—Create permission

–PKI—Create permission

–Interfaces—Modify permission

–Copy configurations—Create permission

–changeto command—Create permission

This chapter describes how to create a domain and a user, and how to associate the user with a predefined role and the new domain. For more information on advanced virtualization configuration, such as restricting user access, predefined roles and how to define a custom role, and creating a domain, see the Virtualization Guide, Cisco ACE Application Control Engine.

Configuring RBAC

Procedure

Command

Purpose

Step 1

changeto context

Example:

host1/Admin# changeto VC_WEB

host1/VC_WEB#

Changes to the correct context if necessary. Check the CLI prompt to verify that you are operating in the VC_WEB context.

Step 2

config

Example:

host1/VC_WEB# config

host1/VC_WEB(config)#

Enters configuration mode.

Step 3

domain name

Example:

host1/VC_WEB(config)# domain DOMAIN1

host1/VC_WEB(config-domain)#

Creates a domain for the context.

Step 4

add-object all

Example:

host1/VC_WEB(config-domain)# add-object
all

Allocates all configuration objects in the VC_WEB context to the domain.

Configures new user USER1, and assigns the predefined role SLB-Admin and the domain DOMAIN1 to USER1

The 5 parameter for the password keyword requires that you enter an MD5 hash-encrypted password. You can obtain an MD5 hash password by first entering the username command with the 0 parameter and a clear-text password (for example, MYPASSWORD). Next, enter the show running-config command and copy the user's encrypted password from the running-configuration file. Enter the username command again using the 5 parameter and the encrypted password.

Step 7

exit

Example:

host1/VC_WEB(config)# exit

host1/VC_WEB#

Exits configuration mode.

Step 8

show running-config role

show running config domain

Examples:

host1/VC_WEB# show running-config role

host1/VC_WEB# show running-config
domain

Displays the user and domain configurations.

Step 9

copy running-config startup-config

Example:

host1/VC_WEB# copy running-config startup-config

(Optional) Copies the running configuration to the startup configuration.

Configuration Example for Configuring RBAC

The following example shows how to configure RBAC. The commands that you have configured in this chapter are shown in bold text.